King Charles' lavish Versailles banquet has to be moved due to violent threats
A lavish ceremony thrown in honour of King Charles is set to be moved away from the Palace of Versailles in France over fears of violence.
Recent widespread rioting in the country is said to have made the engagement "too risky" for security forces to allow it to go ahead next Monday as planned.
Protesters have been fighting battles for the past week following President Emmanuel Macron’s controversial decision to raise the age of retirement from 62 to 64 without a parliamentary vote.
Demonstrators, as well as politicians in the opposition, have accused the French ruler of being "completely out of touch".
Trade unionists and other protesters have pledged to disrupt all events attended by the British Monarch, with Versailles its "Number 1 target".
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Riot police clash with protesters earlier today in western France (Jeremias Gonzalez/AP/REX/Shutterstock)A source said: ‘The dinner between Charles III and Emmanuel Macron, planned for Monday, may not be held at Versailles, as initially planned.’
Organisers ‘plan to hold it somewhere else,’ with the Elysée Palace in central Paris a likely replacement.
The event at Versailles was meant to be the glittering highlight of the State Visit – Charles’s first as monarch.
The King and Camilla, the Queen Consort, were set to arrive at the ancient palace on Monday evening along with 200 handpicked guests hosted by Mr Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron.
French president Emmanuel Macron wipes his brow during a public address (AFP via Getty Images)It was to be followed by a concert in the Royal Chapel, and then dinner would have been served on Duplessis porcelain plates made during the reign of Louis XV.
MP Sandrine Rousseau said: "It’s amazing, we are going to have Emmanuel Macron, the Republican monarch meeting Charles III while people in the street are demonstrating.
"Can this really be happening? This is an incredible denial of democracy.
"Something is happening in this country – is the priority really to receive Charles III at Versailles?"
The stunning Palace of Versailles was set to welcome the King next week (Getty Images)As well as riots, anti-Macron protests in France have also included some 10,000 tonnes of rubbish building up on the streets of Paris after binmen withdrew their labour.
Versailles, situated to the west of Paris, is where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, France’s last proper king and queen, lived before they were guillotined at the height of the 1789 Revolution.
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The palace, which was built by the Sun King, Louis XIV, still represents the fabulous wealth and privilege of France’s pre-revolutionary Royals.
A Buckingham Palace source said the situation in France ‘was being monitored,’ but there were no immediate plans to cancel the trip, which starts on Sunday.
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